NS vs. CSX

[icmr]

Thanks for all of the replies.

[Train Guy 3]

I'm still a NS fan even though they cut their steam program.

[oskar]

I also forgot to metion this NS has gotten rid of all the marker lights but CSX has kept most of them


THANK YOU CSX FOR KEEPING MARKER LIGHTS


kevin

[daveklepper]

NS seems like a technological innovator and an aggessive promoter of new business. CSX? Apparently they have a lot to learn. I hope they do.

[peterjenkinson1956]

i modelled conrail...when csx n s took over i gradually moved over to csx now csx is the dominent railroad on my model railroad....ps i admire the santa fe... peter

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Nora

I prefer NS since they keep putting money in my bank account every two weeks...

[:D]

Such logic makes for a very good point. -------------------------------- I do trust that you are also taking the opportunity to buy some of their stock. - PL

[Anonymous]

I work for csx , my checks don't bounce, so they're no. 1 in my book.

[Anonymous]

blaze -

Do NS checks bounce?

Unless you can prove some have bounced, your statement is ludicrous. You'd be happy working for anybody whose checks do not bounce. How many employers have you worked for whose checks bounced?

Old Timer

[Anonymous]

Something would be terribly wrong if NS checks bounced. They make tons more money.

[Anonymous]

calm down old timer, all im saying is that i get paid every other week and that's the bottom line. I don't have to prove anything, and I never said ns checks bounce. you're reading waaaaay too much into this.

[Anonymous]

personally i hate both railroads, but they are trains and i love all trains

[Anonymous]

Which one(s) then do you like?

[Anonymous]

CSX isn't even in the hunt with NS, just as C&O was never in the hunt with N&W.

In an era where a railroad's prosperity was judged at least partly on how much coal business it carried, C&O hauled more coal than N&W; on the west end of the railroad it took its coal all the way to Lake Erie at Toledo, and N&W had to give its coal, and part of the revenue, to connections at Columbus. Until it merged with Pere Marquette, C&O didn't have any more non-coal-involved mileage than did N&W, nor more passenger service to support. C&O didn't have N&W's grades nor N&W's curvature, against getting its coal to market. C&O had roundhouses full of the most fashionable locomotives ever devised by the mind of man - 90 big 2-8-4s, 40 2-10-4s, 60 2-6-6-6s, the world's heaviest 4-6-4s, and the Greenbrier 4-8-4s; while N&W just had a bunch of old obsolete (the smart guys said) compound 2-8-8-2s, 43 2-6-6-4s that the intelligentsia said were much inferior to the 2-6-6-6s, and some short-legged 4-8-4s.

Yet C&O never made the money that N&W did, as a function of carrying gross income over to net.

The bottom line is where it counts . . .

Old Timer

[ValleyX]

Now, there's an answer worth reading, Old Timer, and a lot of it seems to have carried through to this very day. Funny how that works out, isn't it.

[waltersrails]

I love NS but also love CSX because of them owning B&O.

[Anonymous]

waltersrails -

A long time ago it was said that everybody had two favorite railroads - the B&O and one other.

Old Timer

[Anonymous]

On paper NS is at the moment superior, however it was not so in the 80's or early 90's.

I am partial to NS since I grew up near a Southern RR branch, however I do enjoy railfanning both........

[Anonymous]

This is a easy choice for me. NS all the way. CSX is nice, but does not capture the majestic feeling of NS. The only thing I like about CSX is that it has wides of unit power, and roads, as it pass through on the NYS&W railway tracks, I see many CSX trains on the Susquehanna, as it goes right through my small town of Vernon. As my fallen flag railroad, it has to be the Pennsylvania Railroad.

[icmr]

Thanks for all of the replies. I like NS since I live by their main line.

[Anonymous]

Norfolk Southern ALL the way ! They have darn good lokking locomotives.

[altoonafn]

NS is my favorite. They have more interesting operations than CSX.

[Anonymous]

I've long thought that the old N&W was unfairly judged because of a condescending investment community that thought the line consisted of a bunch of hillbillies running coal mallets at 10 mph. This despite the acquisitions of the 1960s and the line's innovation--being an early champion of auto racks, for example.

Yes, the road was a mess 20 years ago. But the drive to excellence came from somewhere.

[ValleyX]

Road was a mess 20 years ago? Please explain that. I don't remember it being a mess other than the time post June 1, 1999, and that mess seems to be (mostly) fixed.

[Anonymous]

Well, financially in a mess, as were most American RR's. You were right to upbraid me, though, as it has always at least seemed to me that the N&W/Southern = NS kept their pikes in good shape, regardless of last quarter's earnings.

[Anonymous]

Quoth smalling_60626:

"I've long thought that the old N&W was unfairly judged because of a condescending investment community that thought the line consisted of a bunch of hillbillies running coal mallets at 10 mph. This despite the acquisitions of the 1960s and the line's innovation--being an early champion of auto racks, for example."

What investment community are you talking about? The old N&W was ace-high with the Wall Street investment community, which is the one that counts. It never missed a common stock dividend from its beginning of dividend payments in 1901 until the 1982 merger, including every year during the Great Depression. In February, 1934, it was the highest priced stock on the NYSE. When I joined the RR in 1959 the common stock dividend was $6.50 per share, again, the highest among NYSE stocks of ALL categories, not just transportation.

The Pennsy owned 39% of N&W's common stock from 1901 until divestiture in 1964, and N&W made enough money to pay enough dividends so that the PRR collected $406,676,041.98, total. In other words, N&W subsidized PRR's standing as "Standard Railroad of the World" to the tune of 40% of a BILLION dollars.

I don't know where you got your information, but all the N&W stockholders annual reports are available on a CDROM from the N&WHS website. You can get it and add up the dividends for yourself. I did.

Old Timer

[mackb4]

My Dad retired from the CSX three years ago.I'm on my 15th year with the NS.My Grandad worked for the Virginian(NS) until 1922,then the Southern(NS) till 1925,and passed away working for the C&O(CSX) in 1965.My Great Granddad worked on the Virginian(NS) till 1922,then retired on the Seaboard(CSX).My Mother's Granddad retired from the C&O(CSX) in the early 60's,and her Dad worked for the C&O(CSX),got layed off,then the Seaboard(CSX),got called back for a life time job on the C&O(CSX),worked one day then got a job termination notice the next day.So to answer the question,the ole Chessie(CSX) feed my face when I was a kid,and the NS does my kids,and mine.Both railroads have their good and bad points.But the NS right now is doing much better money wise than the CSX.On the Division I work ( Poca) we are going to have major work on our tunnels and bridges for double stack trains.I think the CSX does a better job in maintaining their engines,but the NS does an excellent job on track maintainace.All railroads in my opinon will see a boom in business with the current oil prices.So railroads should be in good shape for a long time.But keep an eye on what your state rep's in Washington do to Amtrack.They would like to send the debt back to the railroads but the money would drain any profit.But believe me, there is some good conversations during holiday's at Dad's house !

[ValleyX]

At Christmastime, don't your parents have a hard time cleaning up all of that coal dust after the festivities are over? It's probably several inches thick after all of THAT conversation.[;)]

[Valleyline]

No question about it.....NS has come out on top after the Conrail split-up fiasco. Now... if they would only paint those engines covered with OD primer!

[mackb4]

Hey I'm a railroader,we like to talk/type.I could have listed all my uncle's and cousin's railroad facts,but my fingers got tired.Valleyline I like to call those ugly primed engines "plain wrappers".The NS gets them cheaper from GE like that.I've had those in power moves with big plastic bags over the stack,and tags on the isolation/start switch stating not to fire up the engine because there's no oil in it from the build shop.The NS still knows how to save a penny like the N&W used to.

[tmcc man]

i like them both, and this is a hard decision, and i see both of them every once in a while.